


Hold On To Me

by Vandaier



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Aaravos Being a Little Shit (The Dragon Prince), Aaravos is Also an Idiot, Dirty Thoughts, M/M, Masturbation in Shower, POV Aaravos (The Dragon Prince), POV Viren (The Dragon Prince), Touch-Starved Aaravos (The Dragon Prince), Unresolved Sexual Tension, Viren Tries His Best (The Dragon Prince), Viren is an Idiot, written post s3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:08:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26959333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vandaier/pseuds/Vandaier
Summary: Aaravos takes a shower, and Viren has a heart attack.also known as;Incredibly Self Indulgent Writing.
Relationships: Aaravos/Viren (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 101
Collections: The Dragon Prince





	1. Ascension

**Author's Note:**

> this is for all the aarahoes in the world, more will certainly come~
> 
> title is from Love; Not Wrong (Brave) by EDEN; https://open.spotify.com/track/4z3eCIpMNMqy02VbRaWTRz?si=KqEMrYfSSG6OSL8Ddi9l-w.

Aaravos felt like it was a constant dream - a _nightmare_ \- being trapped inside the mirror. 

By that, he meant that nothing inside it quite felt right, not that it was some kind of dreamlike paradise one would willingly step into; unless they were already insane. It was as if everything was just that little bit harder to grasp, like it was when one was still sleepy and unable to call upon their full strength. He’d been sapped of his strength before he’d been shoved into this dimension but everything felt weaker still, like it would simply turn into water and melt away if he gripped it harder. Nothing sat right. Things flickered in his peripherals that weren’t there when he turned, as if the entire world ceased to exist the moment he stopped looking at it.

It was nauseating. He was the only constant; a piece of driftwood floating in an endless sea with no land anywhere in sight.  
  
He opened his eyes to collect his bearings, figuring if he could at least see that he wasn’t in one of those constantly undulating death-traps humans called boats he’d feel a bit better about himself. The blue-marble ceiling leered at him from above, and his eyes instinctively traced the decadent filigree bordering the edges of the room for the millionth time, maddeningly familiar over the past few centuries. The bed beneath him was just as soft as it always was, but if he closed his eyes would it still be there? Would the feeling of comforting cotton simply vanish if he refused to acknowledge it?  
  
Aaravos took a deep breath in and laid a starry hand on the smooth mattress, feeling to its edge before hauling himself up into a sitting position and shuffling backward until his back hit the headboard. His hair fell into his eyes, offering him a brief reprieve from seeing anything before he swept it up out of his face, burying his fingers into his hair and ruffling to help wake himself up.

After all, did it really matter what he looked like when no one could see him?

No one but Viren, but the mirror wasn’t in this room and Viren was as far away from the mirror as humanly possible right now, so he had nothing to worry about.

The mirror dimension had three rooms - a library, a bedroom and an en suite - and a corridor connecting the main ones. He was currently loathing life in the bedroom, staring into the white void of the large window opposite the bed. Everything was lavishly decorated, from the decadent and frankly useless piano in the back left corner of the room to the chaise lounge overlooking a balcony on the left wall, all classically overbearing and screaming for ruin.

There had been multiple times where he’d trashed every room in this infernal dimension, either with his magic or by his own hands. Aaravos could never stand to picture the elves cackling to themselves while creating poncy furniture for him, surely having the time of their lives knowing he’d have to use whatever they gave him or sleep on the floor. 

In theory, he’d have been in complete bliss for eternity here, had he not already known how he was going to get out. His cosmic sight was truly a blessing sometimes, though it hadn’t predicted just how long he’d had to spend in the mirror before his human saviour showed up.

So the bed was comfy enough. Everything was. It was a manner of pride in which he refused to call anything _his_ in this dimension, therefore it simply was.

Everything had been crafted with the vague idea of what Aaravos might enjoy in a home, but it was abundantly clear that the elves had no clue what he enjoyed at all, much like how a spare bedroom was always slightly off in some way. Like having every piece of furniture in one’s house suddenly moved one inch to the left for no apparent reason. It was almost unnoticeable at first - comfortable and normal - but once one noticed those things they stuck out endlessly and in every situation. Everything he looked at infuriated him to no end.

Swinging his legs out from underneath the silk covers, he placed his feet onto the marble floor and immediately smothered his face in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees as he sighed loudly. The noise was eaten alive by the nothingness around him, reminding him he was alone, and that no one could hear him.

What would he give to feel a cold floor beneath his feet? Everything was the same temperature - even the fire that flickered in the library held no warmth to it.

Lukewarm. Good enough. Nothing.

It was like nothing.

Aaravos took his head out of his hands and finally stood up while waving a silver hand toward the melted candle on the bedside table, half of its remnants pooling on the floor like some waxy spilled drink, to reform and light it. Since he had no way of telling the time in this infernal dimension he took to calculating it through candles. One burned for around an hour before it was nothing but a solid puddle, so by factoring in how many hours he’d slept, this candle would be the two million, six hundred and twenty nine thousand, seven hundred and forty sixth.

Three hundred years was a long time to spend alone.

He left the candle burning on the table while he padded into the en suite, leaving the door open behind him since no one else was going to walk in and find him only clothed in his underwear. It wasn’t like he’d care if - in a normal scenario where seeing another being was completely natural and not life changing - anyone saw him in any stage of undress anyway.

The floor-to-ceiling mirror in front of him displayed just how bare he was, catching his starlit lavender-blue skin in his periphery, but he took virtually no notice of himself as he went through his ‘morning’ routine. While he could have quite easily used a rune to freshen himself up, he preferred using the more human method of preparing himself for the long slog he was to be awake, grimacing at the vaguely warm temperature of the water as he brushed his teeth. At least by touching his face and feeling some semblance of otherness affecting him, he could be sure he was alive.

If Aaravos was honest with himself, he had forgotten what cold and hot felt like. The mirror dimension was carefully cultivated by the magic of all the elves that had sealed him, making sure he felt nothing but what he was supposed to. Apparently that didn’t include temperatures that weren’t his own body heat.

Once he was done making himself look presentable (see:running an actual brush through his hair instead of his fingers), he slipped off his underwear and padded toward the shower. There was no dial for water temperature since everything was catered to his own, but he knew a way to abuse the elves' magic and gain access to scalding hot water. He smirked as he turned the shower on, at this point fully desensitised to the lukewarm water falling down on him.

All he needed to do was touch himself.

Brushing his wet hair out of his face, Aaravos closed his eyes and began to imagine he was somewhere else - _with_ someone else. When he’d first entered the mirror it was easy to pretend as if there was another person here with him, but as the years went by it got progressively harder to imagine.

Until the human on the other side of the mirror. 

Viren.

He’d watched almost feverishly as the dark mage had tried every spell he could get his hands on to reveal the mirror’s secrets to him, glaring at the candles posted on the dungeon walls as if they’d sputter out from his sheer will to extinguish them. It took far too long for the human to figure out how to see to his side, in his not-so-humble opinion, but _Gods_ did it feel good to be seen.

To be watched. Studied, almost as intensely as he’d urged the human to envelop the room in darkness.

It had taken all of his self control not to leap at the mirror and demand the man do everything he asked, but he’d had to start slow, perhaps out of some hidden nerves after centuries of isolation. He began to pick up the glimmering thread of a game, weaving it in circles around him until Viren had a perfect picture of what Aaravos wanted him to see. He fed the mage intriguing clues about himself as he drifted in and out of the library and the bedroom, sometimes walking right up to the mirror and finding his patience indescribably thin as he pretended not to see him on the other side.

Honestly, he had no idea how he’d waited so long to reveal the secret that he’d been aware of Viren the entire time. The shock on the man’s face had been delicious. He could have licked it off him, _would_ have, if not for the glass separating them. It was a pleasant surprise for him to see a familiar staff laying against the chamber wall, too, remembering the days centuries ago when another dark mage had wielded it.

Little did the human know that Aaravos already knew him, though only briefly.

His cosmic sight had allowed him a vision into the future when he was younger. The prison, though he had no idea that was what it was at the time, and Viren, stood on the other side, enraptured by his presence. Aaravos had had a lot of time to ponder over the appearance of the man, drinking in every single one of his features and burning them into his mind’s eye. 

Short brown hair, tastefully mussed away from his face, and a close-cropped beard that hugged his bottom lip, just slightly tinged with grey. Silver eyes that held little life in them, though when he’d seen him they’d been alight in wonder and apprehension. Strong, angular brows, almost permanently furrowed, like he’d had a lifetime of asking questions and never receiving the proper answers.

Aaravos, for some strange reason, wanted to press his thumb between his brows and smooth that expression out. Wondered, _yearned_ to see another expression of his, one softer and more curiously innocent.

He’d been no less intrigued when he finally met him, after centuries of seething and wondering whether his sight had failed him, that the human had never been born, feeling that familiar snick of connection between him and the kosm that told him one of his premonitions had come to light. It was the first face he’d seen in years, one he recognised, and he knew he’d need him in the future - knew his own future held in the balance of Viren’s mortal hands.

It was Viren he imagined now, all other faces blurred and unrecognisable from years of wasting away in the prison. It was his warm hands smoothing their way down his chest as he pressed against his back, holding him steady should his knees give out.

They’d already seen each other like this. It came out of a desperation on both of their ends to finally be with someone that didn’t hate them for being who they were. Neither of them could touch the other, his spirit form far too weak to be solid, so instead, they partook in various different ways to get themselves off separately, mostly in the safety of Viren’s chambers or war-tent. There were times he’d gotten the former-King whining and squirming at the head of their army, hissing at him to shut up despite the dark blush blooming prominently on his cheeks..

He relished the way Viren retaliated in those times, after being teased for so many hours and pretending to not be affected by the things Aaravos was saying.

Gods, he hadn’t been touched in so long.

Aaravos let out a soft sigh, tilting his head to the side and replacing the feeling of water raining on him with Viren’s soft kisses, trailing down from below his ear to the base of his neck. His hands continued to wander, slipping down his abdomen until he lightly grazed his hardening cock. He shivered ever so slightly, rolling his head back with a lazy grin as he imagined the human’s dark chuckle from behind him.

He bit his lip as he palmed himself, taking the liberty of imagining Viren’s hands being just the right kind of rough, enough to bypass how wet he already was because of the water. He gripped himself hard all the way up to his head where he slipped his thumb loose of his fist to rub at his leaking slit, letting loose a satisfied hum as a coiled fire flared up in his abdomen.

Imagining Viren smoothing the base of his palm over the head of his dick, he jumped slightly at his own sensitivity, bracing his spare hand against the wall so he didn’t fall and picturing the human’s wonder at seeing him fall apart over such simple touches.

Oh, if only he knew how sensitive he really was. 

If only he was right behind him right now, murmuring sensual promises into his ear just like Aaravos did every time he put his caterpillar on his ear. He shivered at the thought, lust pooling in his stomach as he gripped himself harder and began to pump slowly, using the warmer water as slick to make the slide deliciously wet.

“F-Fuck, Viren..” He breathed, rutting up into the wet warmth of his fingers and picturing the human on his knees before him now, slender hands gripping onto his thighs for support because he’d been ordered not to touch and he was a good pet, so he wouldn’t.

Aaravos’ lips twitched up into a dark smirk before they parted to let out a breathy moan, imagining Viren running his tongue up the underside of his cock before closing his mouth around it, lowering himself down until he could feel his dick graze the back of his throat. He’d gag and attempt to pull away, but Aaravos would tangle his hands in his short hair and yank him back on his length, forcing his way into his mouth.

“Gods, yeah,” He gasped, imagining Viren’s half-choked whines of protest and the way they’d vibrate down his length perfectly. “Just like that, fuck, _Viren_ ,”

Already he could feel the fire in him flaring up, riding the high of his arousal as various images of Viren’s body flashed before his eyes - him impaled on his cock, stuffed full with tears flowing freely down his pale cheeks, face pushed into a pillow to try to muffle his loud moans.

Aaravos’ pace stuttered, hips jerking as he fucked into his fist, squeezing occasionally to pull overwhelmed groans from his throat. He’d be ashamed of how close he was to his release if he wasn’t so desperate, biting his bottom lip to muffle his moans from no one before his vision completely blacked out, the fire in his stomach overwhelming as waves of pleasure washed over him. Strings of cum caught on his chest and fingers before they were washed away by the water.

He stood there for a moment to recover, panting with his eyes closed to savour the glorious boneless feeling of release. It wasn’t the first time he’d used Viren’s likeness to cum and he doubted it’d be the last, shuddering slightly as he straightened up and lazily reached for the nearby shelf to start actually washing himself in the now-hot water.

Fuck.

  
  


༺•༻✦༺•༻ 

  
  


The tether had grown bigger over the past few hours - candle two million, six hundred and twenty nine thousand, seven hundred and fifty seven - enough that he’d migrated from pacing in the bedroom to the library, pretending to read a book and wholly failing to recognise any of the words on the page.

Excitement and apprehension and nervousness swirled in him like the beginnings of a tumultuous storm.

Before, after completing the blood ritual to birth his caterpillar and send it through to the real world, the tether had been a small thread connecting Aaravos and Viren together, allowing him to pass through in a vastly inferior spectral form once the caterpillar had spun its silk around the human’s eye.

It was first the size of a hair when he’d passed the bug through, and grew with the continued use of magic around it, either through him or Viren. He’d taken the time to grow his caterpillar with each new size of the tether, comparing it to string, then rope, then a fully formed cord.

The cord passed from him into the mirror, bouncing through the world until it reached where his caterpillar was cocooned in its chrysalis, deep inside a cave at the bottom of the Storm Spire. At this point the mirror was almost completely filled with the cord and he could feel the aching pull in his chest to simply walk through and finally leave, taking the place of his caterpillar who would willingly die to free him.

All the while, Viren was practically blind to it all. Humans were so dismissive of things they couldn’t understand. 

He recalled a brief conversation they’d had about the growing size of the caterpillar and still marvelled at how easy it was to get Viren to dismiss it as a normal thing, to wear it around his neck like a trophy and not be worried about anything that might come of it.

There were questions, of course. How big it was going to grow, what that feeling in his chest was and what the caterpillar’s purpose actually was, but Aaravos had a feeling Viren already knew. There was no way he could ignore the tether that was growing between them, strengthening with every breath the bug took in Xadia.

There was at least some understanding on the humans part, mainly because it became obvious he no longer needed to speak through the caterpillar. He only did so because he enjoyed watching Viren shudder with barely suppressed hunger when he whispered into his ear, but they’d both been flung off the edge of the Storm Spire by that infernal Moonshadow elf before he could attempt to explain what its true function was.

Aaravos had managed to drain the baby dragon of a good amount of power, at least enough to send back through the tether, allowing his caterpillar to cocoon itself in the desolate cave that had become Viren’s final resting place - and resurrection point.

Claudia was indeed a valuable asset. Such raw, dark energy could never be contained for long, hence the dramatic changes to the girl’s appearance, but it was admirable to see her attempt to stick it out for her father. She likely wouldn’t last long if she kept using up her own lifeforce to keep him stable, but it was a valiant effort.

Humans were such fun to watch, even through the thick, murky layers of the cocoon he was wrapped in, still peering through the caterpillar’s eyes as it morphed into himself. Viren had awoken days ago, getting used to being alive again, and he admired their survival skills as he watched them drag what little of the war-tents they could salvage into the cave for bedding and extra shelter. It seemed both him and Viren were suffering from the loss of communication between them, if only briefly. 

He often caught the man staring at the chrysalis, running his hands over its thick shell as if testing to see how long it would take to birth him. Surely he could feel the tether getting even bigger by now, preparing for something immense to take its place.

In just the last few candles - hours - the tether was now big enough that it consumed the entirety of the mirror, the power stolen from the baby dragon working its magic on the runes that bound him to this realm. It would disappear when Aaravos walked through to take the caterpillar’s place, trading its life for freedom. 

The living bridge between him and Viren would be ripped away upon its death, leaving them both wholly separate again, but that mattered so little to him that he barely even thought about it.

He didn’t care. Not now.

He couldn’t even pretend to read the book in front of him, hands physically trembling with the thought of finally returning to the real world - to Xadia. Part of him was horrified, staring at the mirror as if the tether would simply snap and die out and never be replaced again, but every time those feelings surged in him he shoved them down, swallowing hard.

Standing from where he’d practically barricaded himself in with books at the desk, Aaravos silently and methodically worked to put each one back where he found it, focusing on nothing else but reading the titles and putting them back in alphabetical order depending on their languages. The desperation in him mounted as he worked, and he restrained the intense urge to check over his shoulder at the mirror and tether every few seconds.

For some reason he felt a need to make the place pristine again, as if he’d never touched it. Maybe it had grown on him like some parasite over the centuries, filling him with a vague need to see it returned how it was, like he’d never once set foot in the place. Like it had never happened.

Once everything was back where it was there was nothing he could do but look, padding cautiously toward the mirror and raising a silver hand to touch its pulsing surface. The fact it no longer felt like a mirror but instead a vaguely wet, sticky substance meant the last rune had been broken, and that he was touching the slime inside of the chrysalis.

Aaravos’ heart leapt into his chest, such hope and visceral hunger to see the world mounting in his body until he couldn’t contain himself. His fingers disappeared inside the lavender slime as if being willingly sucked in, begging him to come through, his wrist and forearm disappearing soon after. 

His caterpillar was welcoming him into the world. It sensed its life was over and willingly gave it up to him. It was ready to be erased to grant him his freedom. 

So then he just… stepped through.


	2. Return

A creeping hollowness in his chest alerted Viren to something instinctually wrong with the world, something so out of place it ripped him from his sleep in the very back of the cave.

He twisted to lie on his back and opened his eyes, unsticking his tongue from the roof of his mouth and looking to his left to make sure Claudia was still sleeping quietly in the corner. She looked as peaceful as ever, despite the sharp rocks that must be digging into her side through the war-tent beneath her. One arm was gracelessly tossed over her face while the other clutched her bag like a shoddy replacement for a stuffed animal, the strap tangled around her forearm near possessively.

Viren’s heart twisted in his chest, accompanying the feeling of innate wrongness that had disturbed his own sleep. He sat up and adjusted his undershirt, feeling around in the dark for the rest of his clothes so he could pull them on and check the time outside. Perhaps he just needed a walk to help calm his rampant paranoia.

He hadn’t slept well since he’d been resurrected, though not entirely because of that. It was more like him waking up every hour, terrified that they’d been found, picturing the soldiers restraining him as they hauled Claudia away from him.

Inhaling deeply, he carefully focused on buttoning up his tunic and not thinking about things too deeply. It was only when he was yanking on his second boot that he inspected the slick liquid encasing the toe of it, running a finger through the slime and grimacing at the sight of its odd iridescence.

Something clicked then, and he was yanking his head around hard enough to give himself whiplash to look at the chrysalis, realising that it was pitch black inside the cave instead of its usual glowing purple because of the cocoon.

It wasn’t there. It-

_It wasn’t there._

Viren sprang to his feet and immediately regretted it for the pain in his lower back, trying to freak out as silently as possible as he half-waded into the mass of iridescent goo. He made it around halfway into the mess before he stopped, stooping to search through the vague lumps of chrysalis layers as if Aaravos would be nestled in the wake of its destruction. 

Nothing.

He was gone. He was gone, he’d- he’d _left._

The hollowness in his chest made sense now. Where it had previously been pulsing with overwhelming power from Aaravos’ side of the caterpillar it was now horribly, viscerally empty, as if the elf had clawed his heart out of his chest while he was sleeping and stolen away in the night.

Swallowing hard, Viren stopped for a few seconds to control his breathing, stumbling back a few steps until his back hit the cold stone walls of the cave.

There was no way he was gone forever. He couldn’t just… leave. Not after everything they’d done - everything Viren had sacrificed. But it made sense. Aaravos was free now; he had no obligations besides honour and whatever skewed companionship they’d had to stick by his side, and he knew how very little he cared about those things. 

He was just gone. 

Viren was going to throw up.

He managed to feel his way along the side of the cave until it opened up into a short tunnel that led outside, trying as hard as he could to make his mind silent, to not overthink as he was so overly prone to doing. 

Perhaps- perhaps he’d just gone to scout the area out and make sure they were safe? There was no way he’d leave them starving to fend for themselves, no way he’d just disappear when he and Claudia were struggling as it was.  
  
They’d waited here _for him_ . They’d sat in that dirty, disgusting hole in the ground _for him_ , and Viren had made Claudia sleep on that horrible floor night after night after night in hopes Aaravos would emerge and save them both. 

It was so horribly juvenile, so unlike him to put all of his trust in an elf, but that was all he had.

And now he had nothing.

Viren stumbled out of the cave and barely made it ten steps away from the mouth before he collapsed to his knees, fisting his hands in his hair so hard he felt some rip out of his head. He ground his teeth together in an effort to stay the scream that wanted to punch out of him, trying his hardest to take deep breaths and calm down.

He must have stayed there for hours because there was some semblance of light when he first slumped into the grass, but now the entire world was shadowed in the vast blanket of night. His mind was a hazy ocean of white noise when he lifted it, drunk off his rage and swaying slightly.

But there was singing. Somewhere in the world, off in the distance, someone was singing softly in a language he couldn’t understand. 

The voice was wrathfully familiar.

Viren hardly had any control over his body as he yanked himself up and marched directly toward the object of his rage, staggering up the steep hill atop the cave and glaring into a vast field with a stream running through the middle of it - where he and Claudia got their drinking water from. He paused at the top to attempt to even out his heaving breaths, then stopped altogether at what he saw in the field.

Aaravos, phenomenally powerful Archmage of all Six Primal Sources, was rolling around in the field to his heart’s content, stray blades of grass strewn throughout his moon-white hair as he tumbled through the long stems.

His rage stuttered, then fell utterly silent as the elf sat up, tipping his head back to the night sky with a grin so bright it could have rivalled the sun. The stars seemed to smile back at him, brightening until Viren could see the myriads of hidden colours woven deep within the abyss, all stretching down as far as they could to greet him again.

He didn’t even have the emotions left to raise an eyebrow in clear judgement, just stood there gawking at Aaravos as he rolled his way to the bank of the stream, not willing to part with any piece of his body that was touching the earth, dirt caked under his pretty nails and clumps of grass stuck on the ends of his horns. Viren gaped, mesmerised by the childish nature of this ancient being, watching the elf plunge his hands directly into the ice cold water and gasp loudly, cutting his mesmerising singing off.

Honestly, he wouldn’t have been surprised if Aaravos attempted to slide his entire body into the stream with the pure joy that lit up in his face, the stars on his cheeks glowing extraordinarily bright. He mumbled a few words in that strange, lilting language, then looked to the stars as if they had an answer for him. 

It was then that Aaravos seemed to notice him, and Viren remembered he had some sort of reason for coming up the hill before seeing whatever this spectacle was, hastily attempting to rearrange himself into a somewhat imposing stance.

“ _Viren._ ”

Oh, _Gods_ , that voice.

“Have you ever wondered how humans manage to burn so bright, even in old age?” Aaravos spoke with his arms still elbow-deep into the stream, clearly enjoying himself making ripples in the water before he pulled them out, pressing his starry fingers to his face and sighing contentedly.  
  
Viren just stood there, wondering whether he should turn around and go back to sleep.

“I’m asking you a question.” Aaravos was already moving, the physical embodiment of some graceful, riotous storm ready to sweep him off his feet. He ran his fingers through his hair to get rid of the grass still hidden in there while he leaped over the stream, heading straight toward him. While he was used to the elf’s appearance, Viren was struck dumb by the thought that he was fully corporeal now, fully able to touch him if he wanted.

“No, I haven’t,” Viren admitted, and thoroughly didn’t enjoy the way Aaravos seemed to smile the moment he opened his mouth to speak. “I don’t see why this is relevant to what you were doing.”

The elf simply scoffed, striding up the hill to stand face to face with him. Now this, Viren wasn’t used to. Aaravos was always floating around somewhere in his periphery when he was merely a spirit - he hadn’t noticed how tall he was. How imposing.

“Every mortal thing has the same bright spark inside them. You are no different from the ants and worms crawling beneath our feet,” Aaravos completely avoided his veiled question as to what exactly he was doing rolling around in a field at midnight, slinking around him in a very close circle. Viren tried not to make his shiver show when he felt the full weight of those slender fingers land on his shoulder, trailing around his back to the other side of him.

“Are you calling me an ant?” Viren bit out, brows narrowed disapprovingly. He didn’t come out here to be insulted - in fact, he came out to thoroughly mince Aaravos with his words, but it didn’t quite seem to be happening.

Aaravos seemed to genuinely contemplate whether he was comparing Viren’s life with that of a bug before he smiled and shook his head, thoroughly invading his space to brush his starry fingers underneath Viren’s chin just like one would do to a favoured pet. He was tempted to try and bite one off just to stop the endless prodding he was being subjected to, turning his head just as the elf took his hand away.

His golden irises seemed to gleam knowingly in the darkness, endlessly amused by Viren’s anger.

Gods, when he was a spirit he was _manageable_ \- in the way godlike-powerful beings could be when they were in another dimension and couldn’t physically harm him - but now Aaravos was here, in the flesh, he seemed overbearing and all-consuming at once, ready to consume him in a tidal wave of his power.

  
Viren took a breath when the elf took his hand away. Oxygen seemed in short supply when the weight of the elf was directly on him, even in something as light as his silver fingers.

“No. I would not vow to serve you if you were anything less than what you are,” Aaravos crooned, and somehow the tension between them seemed palpable, even the breeze pausing to hear the elf’s words.

Viren hated it. Hated feeling inferior, hated having to wait to know what was inside the elf’s head, hated knowing that whatever he _did_ say wouldn’t mean anything unless he wanted it to, and especially hated that he loved toying with Viren so much that he wouldn’t say anything meaningful until he was on his knees practically begging for answers.

“That’s right,” He spat, impulsively reaching out to close his fist around the lapel of Aaravos’ open robe, yanking him closer. Thoroughly ignoring the way the elf gasped, Viren grabbed onto his jaw with his other hand to pull him down to his level, glaring directly into those unnatural, wide eyes. “You serve _me_. You will do as I say, no questions asked.

Therefore, there are some rules I’d like to lay down, as your King. You will not abandon us. Ever. You will not leave that cave without permission from me, and you’re not to leave my eyesight. You are a _servant_ and I will treat you as such. You cannot be trusted and I will not delude myself into thinking you won’t run away the second you see a better opportunity elsewhere. Understood?”

Viren paused for an answer, expecting to hear an exasperated but compliant reply and instead getting nothing but a desperate whine, starry hands coming up to pry his own off his face. 

Aaravos stepped - more like _lunged_ \- back the moment Viren loosened his grip, rubbing over the places he’d been touched with a slightly hazy look in his black-gold eyes, chest heaving dramatically. Viren stood there for a moment, completely dumbfounded by whatever odd behaviour he was exhibiting before he realised.

The fact he was rolling himself around on the grass like some cat high on catnip wasn’t just for fun; he was getting used to other sensations again. And touch - _human_ touch - was something he was entirely susceptible to right now.

Without thinking, Viren leaped forward to tangle his fingers in Aaravos’ silky hair, grabbing a thick swathe right underneath one of his horns to wrench him right back next to his face. He was rewarded with an overwhelmed yelp, a low, continuous keen rumbling out of the elf’s throat as his hands joined Viren’s in an attempt to loosen the pressure on his head.

“Do you understand me?”

A guttural snarl ripped out of Aaravos’ throat, but then he was nodding despite the pain he was in.

“I’m going to need a verbal answer, _elf._ ”

“Yes, _Viren_ , I comprehend your ridiculous rules,” Aaravos ground out, twisting in Viren’s grip to make sure he could see his expression - one of utter agony, eyes glazed over with the onset of tears and his bottom lip close to trembling from the restraint of crying out. He looked like a kitten forcibly picked up against his will, one second short of mewling for mercy.

“Good.” A smile tugged on Viren’s lips as he let go of Aaravos’ hair, incredibly pleased with the result of just a little bit of manhandling, even if there was a tiny pang in his heart for how ruined the elf had-

The breath whooshed out of him as a considerable force barrelled into his chest, knocking him flat to the grass. Aaravos straddled him, pinning both of his wrists above his head as he cried out, pain lancing through his body. His eyes burned into Viren’s, irises like two forgotten suns in the vast abyss of space, yearning for violence and desolation.

The charade was gone - _this_ was the true face of the startouch elf. As beautiful and visceral as the darkness he crawled out of.

“Let me make a few things clear,” He hissed in his face, elegant fangs shining in the light of the moon. Viren had never realised he had them, blinking rapidly to adjust to the agony of being slammed full force into the ground by a being older than the fucking planet. “If you _ever_ touch me without my permission, I will gut your daughter like a fish.”

The pain vanished from him, replaced with a molten rage for the words spat right at him. Bone deep fear crawled into his veins, and he realised just how horribly outmatched he was to the elf pummelling him into the dirt, one knee expertly placed to crush his lungs while the other settled itself deep in his gut, punching all the air out of his body.

“I will adhere to your silly rules, little human. You’ve always liked sticking arbitrary boundaries on things, so I suppose I shall play along for just as long as you restrain yourself.”

Viren couldn’t do anything and it terrified him. He couldn’t save his daughter even if he wanted it. If Aaravos wished it, it would be done, and he’d have to live with it for the rest of his life.

The feral grin that spread over the elf’s face confirmed how much he really enjoyed the terror that overtook Viren. He fell limp, because that was the only thing he could do, remembering the victorious smirk he’d been given when they sacked the Sunforge together, and how he’d thought he never wanted to be on the receiving end of what Khessa had been subjected to.

He was one step away from everything he loved being snuffed out as easily as a candle in the dark, and somehow that wasn’t stopping him from thinking about how tantalisingly close their faces were. How pretty the stars freckling Aaravos’ cheeks were, glowing brightly. 

“That’s better,” Aaravos crooned, reading the submission in his face. His smile softened, as did the rest of his face, and suddenly it was like he was never angry at all despite the way his knees still drove their way up into his ribcage.

“Do anything to me,” Viren rushed out, straining for air. “But don’t hurt Claudia. Take your anger out on me.”

Aaravos simply rolled his eyes. He’d never felt so weak in his life.

“Despite how delicious it would be to hurt you or your daughter, Viren, I don’t need to do anything to make you do as I wish.” He took Viren’s wrists in one hand and brushed his fingers along the bloom of red on his cheeks. 

Aaravos leaned down, pressing his mouth against his ear, and he tried to restrain the shiver that wracked his body when that baritone whisper rumbled into him. “You already want to.” 

And it was _true_.

Viren felt shame crawl alongside the desire curling in his veins, making a last ditch effort to turn his face away from those plush lips before he did something irrefutable.

“Plus, it would be a shame to end her life when she has so much potential. I wish to thank her for saving you,” Aaravos continued, pressing a feather-light kiss to the top of his cheekbone before he took his hands off him, rolling elegantly away from Viren’s body to sit in the grass atop the hill. Viren tried to ignore the heat that still lingered from the slightest touch of his lips against his skin, taking a few deep breaths to recover and lying absoloutely boneless on the ground where he’d left him.

“You won’t harm us?” The question came out weaker than he intended, poised to the stars he was staring at.

“No.” Aaravos breathed. “It is not in my nature to erase things that don’t deserve it.” The words were so wistful, so ancient, that Viren turned his head to find Aaravos staring up into the kosm above, bright irises dimmed to a pale gold.

All the emotions he’d had bubbling up inside him simply simmered away watching how completely faceted the elf was, like some glimmering gem in a lightless cavern, all its different refractions his immortal instincts honed over millennia.

Viren tentatively, slowly, sat up and reached out, brushing the tips of his fingers against the palm Aaravos braced against the earth to look into the sky. He intently watched the way he jumped before looking down and finally meeting his gaze. Gradually, he felt warmth encasing his hand as the elf slid his palm on top of his - the barest gesture of gratefulness before he looked back out into the void of stars above them.

“You can talk about it, if you want,” Viren murmured softly, words whisked away by the soft breeze of the night. “The mirror. It must be difficult returning to the world after spending so long in a fixed environment.”

The stars under Aaravos’ cheeks dimmed a little, flickering out before returning as he nodded.

“I am not usually so irascible. Immortality dulls the emotions - stretches them out for centuries rather than mere minutes. Humans fascinate me because they’re naturally fickle, swayed by the mere whisper of a word on the wind. Forgive me if I prod at you in various ways, I find you quite interesting.” His eyes glimmered with a hint of warm amusement, not meant to offend in any way, and Viren found the corners of his lips twitching up at the sight.

“You’ve been around humans for too long, then,” He jested, watching as amused surprise flickered in the elf’s eyes, raptly listening to what he had to say. “I think you went through around ten different emotions in the past few minutes.” 

Aaravos chuckled, horns glinting in the moonlight. Viren wondered if they felt as smooth as they looked, or if he was allowed to do anything that drastic without expressly asking first. “Everything is a little too much right now. I need time to settle.”

He gestured elegantly with his free hand toward the field they were facing, encompassing the area broadly as if it were some sort of prestigious kingdom and not a large patch of grass in the middle of nowhere. “This is unknowable to me. I need to learn it again.”

And there it was. The explanation for why he’d been singing and rolling around in it for however many hours before Viren had awoken; finally a straight answer. The thought was sobering. He hadn’t felt much before his death and barely remembered anything in the days he was recovering from resurrection, but even in the weeks he was spending huddled in the cave with Claudia he was missing his bed in Katolis, all the comforts he’d grown used to despite his humble beginnings. 

To have that feeling, that _desperate_ longing, magnified a thousand-fold for centuries with the imminent thought that he could never change his circumstances...

Viren turned his palm at an awkward angle to be able to entwine his fingers with Aaravos’, grimacing for a moment when he remembered the elf only had four fingers before he shoved it down, turning their hands to the side so it was more comfortable for them both.

Aaravos sucked a sharp breath in but he was already moving, slowly tracing the bumps of Viren’s knuckles with his starry fingers, relearning the feeling of companionship. It reminded him oddly of how Soren and Claudia would act as children, fascinated by the smallest things.

Just that thought made his heart completely thaw out for the elf, melting in the night.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Viren murmured, suddenly curious as to why the elf had ventured out on his own and unwittingly given him a heart attack when he’d woken to him gone. The question coaxed a deep scoff from Aaravos, and he blinked in fascination as his delicately pointed ears seemed to twitch of their own accord.

“I was worried you’d mock me,” Came the elf’s honest answer, and it wounded Viren’s pride to know that he probably would have before he learned of the reason why. “Some things are better to do alone, though in hindsight I could have warned you about my disappearance.”

He didn’t bother asking how Aaravos knew he’d been terrified of the elf’s abandonment, figuring it was more than obvious because of the rules he’d laid down for him to follow.

“I think the worst is over now,” Viren murmured. “You can explore your new predicament with us, since everything is quite new to me, too.” He concluded, squeezing his hand just slightly to emphasise how quickly the elf had already picked up touching, if only on a small part of his body. Aaravos rolled his eyes, though there was a quiet contentment in the way he regarded Viren when he turned to face him.

“Indeed. I imagine most things look unfamiliar to you especially, since you were born in the human kingdoms.” A soft chuckle, and then, “I shall have to make sure you don’t accidentally eat something poisonous. I think Claudia would be more angry than I if you were to die again out of sheer ignorance.”

Viren glared at him, though there was little to no fire behind it, disentangling their fingers to stand up and brush the dirt and grass off himself from earlier. Aaravos stared up at him for a moment with wide eyes, and he would have dared to call it the start of a pout before the elf followed suit, immediately invading his space to run his fingers through Viren’s hair.

He pointedly ignored the warm fire that stoked in his stomach at the notion.

“Speaking of sheer ignorance,” He mused, freely letting the elf run his starry hands over his beard, stroking along his sideburns. “I was incredibly rudely woken up because of your disappearance, and I’d very much enjoy falling back asleep-”

“I saw neither of you have crafted pillows and blankets. How primitive.” Aaravos cut him off, tugging at Viren’s ear curiously before he was striding away in the direction of the cave, opalescent hair sliding over his shoulder as he gestured for him to follow. Viren complied, if only because they were finally heading in a direction he wanted.

“Yes, well, I was busy dying. Please forgive me for wanting to figure out how to breathe over being anal about how many silk cushions I have propping up my head,” He growled back sarcastically, jogging to catch up with the elf’s long strides down the hill.

“Apology accepted.” Aaravos shot back with a salacious grin, turning to offer his hand to Viren once the ground finally levelled out again, helping him down off the incline and toward the cave. It seemed their usual back and forth hadn’t changed; between Aaravos constantly pointing out the apparent odd things humans did and Viren adamantly defending himself, the only thing he was surprised about was how long it had taken him to fire back.

He supposed they’d already started when Aaravos had compared him to an ant, but he was too worked up to notice it then. 

Stepping back into the gloom of the cave, he led the now-familiar way through the passage and into the main chamber, which sounded decadent but was really just a vaguely circular rock room, now bathed in darkness because of the lack of a living chrysalis on the left wall.

A rune sparked at the tips of Aaravos’ fingers and suddenly there was a light in the middle of the cave, glowing dimly enough not to disturb Claudia curled in the back corner of the cave with her face stuffed into her bag, shifting uncomfortably. Another wave of the elf’s hand had soft, plush grass growing beneath their feet in place of jagged rock, and indeed pillows shimmered into place against where Viren had declared the sleeping area. 

He gave Aaravos a grateful smile before padding over to his daughter, taking a pillow from the pile and gently coaxing her to let go of her bag. Claudia whined in her sleep at the loss when he managed to pull it away and set it down next to her, quickly replacing it with the pillow. She immediately snatched it up and wrapped her entire body around it to make sure no one stole it again, rolling over to face the wall.

Viren’s smile grew wider when a thick cotton blanket materialised over her sleeping form, intricate golden filigree shining in the halflight.

Aaravos’ warm palm lay on his shoulder, calling him away to let Claudia rest. He went willingly, trying to be as quiet as possible as he padded over to where the elf had made a veritable king sized bed where his old sleeping area used to be, complete with silk pillows and sheets that mocked him as he approached. 

“I would throw one of these at you, but I don’t want to wake Claudia.” Viren whispered as he slipped off his boots, watching the elf out of the corner of his eye. His gaze was fixed upon him from where he stood on the other side of the bed, watching each piece of clothing hit the floor almost ravenously. Heat bloomed in his cheeks as he tried to focus more on his task than what Aaravos was thinking, making quick work of his tunic and pants.

In an effort to regain some of his confidence, he turned to fold his clothes neatly at the end of the bed, hearing a subtle rumbling noise behind him that he assumed meant the elf was busy working his magic on the cave.

“My King needs all the comfort he desires, hence the silk pillows,” Aaravos drawled, dissipating his clothes with a graceful flick of his wrist. 

All of them.

Viren whipped his head around to the other side of the cave as fast as he physically could, finding a wall of polished white marble directly behind him that he ran the risk of just slamming his head into. It separated the area between his bed and Claudia’s sleeping area, and he found himself wondering when Aaravos found the time to terraform rooms in the past few seconds.

Gods, what was he going to say to Claudia when she woke up to find them practically living in an elf’s paradise? When she saw Aaravos for the first time, and realised the only reason they were residing in this formerly-awful cave was because he wanted to wait for him to be born? Knowing Claudia she wouldn’t mind too much once he explained, but he still had to-

“You’re thinking far too much about nothing.” Aaravos’ deep timbre rumbled through the room as he settled down in _his_ bed from the sounds of it, and Viren promptly realised upon turning that he hadn’t made an extra bed for himself. 

Did he seriously think they were going to share a bed together? It was different when he was a spirit - he wasn’t actually _there_ next to him when they used to keep each other company while he slept, he couldn’t feel the physical dip in the bed where the elf used to usually comfortably snuggle up next to him. Now he would feel _everything_ , and despite himself Viren’s skin prickled with the urge to slip under the sheets with him.

“I said I needed to sleep-”

“You said nothing of the sort, Viren. You said you’d enjoy falling asleep, and I couldn’t agree more.” Aaravos’ voice was laced with smug satisfaction, and Viren watched the way he ate him alive with his eyes, trailing his black-gold gaze down from his face to where his chest disappeared beneath his undershirt.

“We’ve never done it like this before.” He murmured, even as he moved to climb onto the bed and slip between the covers, forcing himself to face the elf head on once he deemed himself comfortable.

That was a mistake. That was the biggest mistake he’d ever made in his fucking life.

Aaravos was already looking at him, fully corporeal - he had no idea why he was struggling to get that into his head right now - and only covered in the same silk blanket he was in, barely that. It wasn’t as if it was falling off him, but it was draped rather conveniently over his waist to make Viren guess at what was under there.

All of this was planned and calculated, he knew even as he drank in the details of his starry skin and struggled with the urge to finally, properly touch it, feeling the lingering warmth where Aaravos strayed just a little too close for comfort.

“You need to relearn all of this - you’ll be too sensitive.” Viren logically reasoned, tearing his gaze away from the broad, lavender-blue chest on display to look into Aaravos’ gleaming eyes.

“That is why I’ll be doing all of the touching.”

“But I-”

Aaravos raised a light eyebrow, grinning like a cat with cream, and he realised he’d fallen right into his trap. Viren ached to touch him but he was never going to admit it - unless someone gifted in mind games _made_ him.

“I loathe your entire existence.” He muttered, already resigned to his fate, but Aaravos simply shrugged and turned over, wrapping the blanket tight around him. Viren buffered for a moment, genuinely confused, and ducked out of the way of the elf’s horns as he shuffled forward to lean over him.

“You said you needed sleep,” Aaravos quipped softly, a slow smile spreading on his plump lips the longer Viren stared.

“So you- you’re not-”

“No, Viren. You are correct, I would simply be too sensitive for a feat as of now. Plus,” He stretched luxuriously as he turned, almost taking Viren’s eye out with his horns in the process, “Don’t you think it’s better if you simmer?”

Viren blinked, unsure of what Aaravos was attempting to say. A slender, starry hand rose out of the sheets and lightly pressed down on his chest in response to his silent confusion, guiding him back down to the mattress. He, once again, had no choice but to comply as the elf turned him over onto his side and pressed his warm body against his back, strong silver arms wrapping around his waist soon after.

Aaravos’ mouth pressed against his ear again, hot breaths ghosting over his neck. Gods, he could feel _everything._

“Imagine,” The elf crooned, his deep voice vibrating in his chest so much that Viren could feel it against his back. “All the things I could do to you, now I’m finally here. All the places you’ve wanted me to touch and lick and suck _so_ badly...” 

The elf’s hands slipped down from where they were resting against his chest, one edging dangerously close to his clothed nipples. Viren could hardly breathe, eyes flickering shut as he arched into Aaravos’ chest, tilting his neck to the side so he could do something, _anything_ other than torture him with his voice and barely-there touches.

His mind filled with all the scenarios he’d wanted to try with him. All the ones they _had_ tried, albeit separately, and snuck his own hand up to cover his mouth just in case a desperate whine left his throat.

“Yes,” Aaravos’ voice was all silk, rich and impossibly deep, nosing at his neck so softly Viren had to bite his lip to stop himself from ordering him to bite down. “Just like that, Viren. Keep those thoughts close, my King. They will all come true in time.”

The elf shifted, leaning over him just slightly to press a soft kiss to his temple before returning to his place, enveloping Viren in his arms. Aaravos’ nose rested on his pulse point, listening intently to the way his heart raced, and he could feel the smug smirk tugging at the elf’s lips where they were pressed against his neck.

  
“ _Sweet dreams_ , Viren.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> scream at me @V_Writing_ uwu c: 
> 
> love u aarahoes

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to scream at me @V_Writing_, i look forward to it c: 
> 
> may you dream of aaravos tonight <3


End file.
